weekender

OK, so you may have picked up on the fact that Delaware is growing on me. Despite my weird welcome (see August 24 to about September 24, 2011) to the state, there are actually quite a few reasons to like this place. Here's one: 

interactive version here

While Delaware itself doesn't have a whole lot going on as far as fun things to do, one of its major perks is its central location and general proximity to almost every world-famous city on the East Coast (New York, Philly, DC, Boston), not to mention big-name amusement parks like Hershey and Busch Gardens, and a lot of pretty critical American history. A year ago, Ann and I left left Sunny V around 11:00am, and six hours later we were still in Wisconsin. Now, I would have to very carefully plot out my route (in a general northwest direction) to stay in the same state for 6 hours. (That would be Pennsylvania, in case you were wondering.) In any other direction, I would almost definitely hit at least 2 non-Delaware states in 6 hours, if not more. When I went to Boston, my wheels touched five different states in six hours. Toto, we're not in Kansas/Nebraska/Wisconsin anymore!

Anyway, if you've been following the blog, you know the stories behind most of those little blue pins. Two of them, however, are new as of the last two weeks.

Last weekend Jason and I took some much-needed time off (what even is that?!) in Bethany Beach. Actually, this brings me to a misspeak. Delaware is famous for a few things: Delaware Park, the outlets at Rehoboth and tax-free shopping, Dogfish Head (still on my list, still untapped) (ha ha, untapped, get it?), and the beaches.

So we went to Bethany Beach, and it was FANtastic. We stayed at this adorable little boutique motel I found on TripAdvisor (a habit from my Casa Foch days). I think the guy in the office was a Midwesterner, but I never got a chance to ask him. Wherever he's from, he was very pleasant and welcomed us with cold bottles of water and some great recommendations -- notably, the Cottage Cafe, where we housed some delicious flounder and rockfish dishes with fresh asparagus, plus their special drink, a really beachy, pink, frozen concoction involving peach liqueur and champagne. AND, best of all, the most delicious Chocoholic Cheesecake of my LIFE. Not kidding. It was all I could think about for the whole rest of the weekend.

Well, I am exaggerating a bit there. There were a lot of wonderful things to think about for the rest of the weekend. Such as the beach itself.

We had breakfast at the Frog House, a really fun, lively diner right on the main drag. We had to wait awhile for service, but that was understandable given the hordes of gigantic families with 1-5 babies and children in tow. It's not like we were pressed for time! And if any of you ever vacation with me and I start dithering on about being pressed for time, PLEASE slap me square across the face!

We spent as much time as possible at the beach, in the water (which was full of what Jason called sand nits, like tiny sand-colored crabs that got into the lining of my bathing suit and tried to eat me as revenge for my recent seafood binge). The surf has been pretty wild this summer. Some of our group got rocked by waves at Rehoboth last month (and I still have a scar from the beesting on my wrist, if you wanted to know), and on Saturday at Bethany we couldn't even walk against the current, it was so strong. It was a little scary.

Anyway, because of rainstorms and Captain Jack's Pirate Golf we couldn't spend the whole day at the beach. Mini golf is a pretty important vacation activity, especially pirate "putt putt," as Jason calls it. (I put it next to "pirate" to make it sound even more ridiculous.) (Also I pretty much kicked his butt after the first 3 holes.) We escaped the rain by ducking off the boardwalk into Turtle Beach Cafe for local gelato, made by Gelato Gal, which also has a location near the outlets in Rehoboth. These are two things that are very exciting to me: local, and gelato. (NO, I am not a HIPSTER!) And let me tell you, the cherry gelato was some of the best I have EVER had. Way to go Delaware! And Gelato Gal!

(I'll tell you, we tried Maureen's the next day, which is on Garfield Parkway, and it was a disappointment in comparison. Sorry Maureen's, but I had just tasted the gelato love of my life a mere day prior.

Thrashers fanboy

But we had to try everything, right? Jason has a deep passion for Thrasher fries, apparently a Delaware beach classic. And yes, they are amazing.

Jason also had to check out Bishop's former Bethany Beach location, which is now called Java Llama even though the sign hasn't been changed yet. He almost got conscripted to work down there this summer before they decided to sell it, but let's just say I'm glad -- we're both glad -- he didn't.)

Outside Turtle Beach Cafe I saw a dollar bill stuck through the cracks of the boardwalk. I almost bent to pick it up, but Jason said, "Nope," and nodded at the stairs facing us a few yards away, where a couple of kids sat stifling giggles. Then I heard a giggle from beneath my feet, and the dollar bill disappeared.

Pranksters.

"Did you used to do that?" I asked Jason accusingly. He suddenly found something very interesting to look at in the sky. "...No..."

In the afternoon the rain really started coming down, and lightning + lifeguards cleared the beach, so we headed to the Blue Crab to wait out our parking meter with beers. It turns out the Blue Crab also has delicious fresh house-made chips, and pretty great calamari too. As you might expect, they do crabs, so our table was decked out in the telltale brown paper and roll of paper towels of a crab restaurant. But we weren't hungry yet.

For dinner that night we went to Armand's Pizzaria in Sea Colony, right around the corner from our hotel. (I got a kick out of the spelling painted on the side of the building; that's not a typo. Unfortunately it's also not the official name of the restaurant.) We got a deep dish pizza that we ate while packing up our room the next morning. It was really pretty good both times. Also, in the past I've found deep dish pizza to be a little too heavy, a little too much to handle... But this one was really good. I could still only eat two pieces.

We passed Griff's Bakery on our way to get ice cream for dessert, and Jason made me promise to get up early and go eat there. There was a help wanted sign in the window, and inside it was all dark and empty. Even the racks were completely bare.

And the next morning, once we had packed up our hotel room and checked out, we headed back to Griff's for breakfast pastries. We got the last two strawberry cream cheese puffs and they were some of the last options. Apparently this place just gets completely cleared out every day. And we still weren't early enough.

The guy who seemed like he was in charge apologized for the limited selection, but we told him we felt lucky to get anything at all! He was very friendly, and Griff's seems like a hotspot. I will say, though, if anyone wants to bake, think about baking for Griff's.

I returned to Wilmington with a swimsuit full of sand and a hankering to pet the kitty. Poor Stella had to hang out at home alone for the weekend.

While I was in Bethany Beach, I got a text message from my former podmate Anna Linn, asking if I was free the following weekend and would I like to go to her aunt and uncle's beach house in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.

Would I?! Despite the fact that it was my third weekend in a row traveling, and the last of a series of six weekends where I was home only one... I couldn't really say no! Plus I wanted to see her.

So that's how I ended up in the unlikely situation, dancing in a club on the Jersey Shore on Saturday night with one of the last people in the world I would expect to be doing that with: the infamous "Good Girl" of Pod 278 in Fall 2010.

We had such a good time, though; the Jersey Shore really knows how to do food and drinks. Not to mention the band came on to do a set and started with a cover of "Jersey boy" Bon Jovi. Let's just say the whole club was livin' on a prayer that night.

I won't go into so much detail since this is getting so long already, but in case you are ever in Point Pleasant Beach, I can't leave you high and dry! We had delicious meals at Wharfside, the Shrimp Box, and Tiki Bar. Wharfside has both patio and restaurant seating, and on Sunday afternoon they hosted a really fun "old stuff" cover band. They sang Journey. I'm good.

For dancing, check out Jenkinson's or the Tiki Bar.

More importantly, Anna Linn's family was so great. Her cousin Kate had a baby back in January, and Alex is now 7 months old and captivatingly adorable. Between them and their parents, the house had 3 dogs in it for the weekend, and I actually loved all of them! Making strides. It reminds me how much I actually like meeting new people. That's been oddly stressful this year, I guess because the stakes were so high, when I didn't know a single person in the state and had a long way to go to establish myself.

That being said, a year ago Wednesday was my first foot -- or tire, I suppose -- set in Delaware. I'm a few weeks away from my one-year anniversary of working my current job, which is so exciting. I'm days from signing on an apartment and being able to move in (knock on wood). I've covered a lot of miles, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.